Tom

At only three months old Tom, an American Shorthair cat, had been suffering extreme levels of pain. He and his siblings were surrendered to the Clatsop County Animal Control Shelter as a litter of unwanted kittens. One morning, volunteers found Tom vomiting, shaking, straining and it was clear he was in severe pain. In an attempt to help, their local vet gave him a warm water enema, however, the pain continued. Late one evening his foster mom rushed him to an emergency vet. There, they discovered Tom had a stricture narrowing his rectum to the point solid feces could not pass. While he was nursing, the feces were soft enough to pass, but now, since he was eating solid food and had grown, he was unable to pass any.

The emergency vet performed a procedure to clear the backed up feces, however, surgery would still be needed. ISF was able to provide financial assistance for Tom’s surgery. There were several risks in performing the surgery, yet they decided there was no choice but to continue as it would only get worse as he grew. The surgeon cut and stitched the small area making the rectum wide enough for stools to pass. Thankfully, the surgery went much better than anyone had expected.

Tom was able to recover successfully. He will continuously need to be checked to make sure he doesn’t have any colon constrictions, but he is nearly fully grown and experiencing no problems. Everyone who worked with Tom was immediately drawn to him. He’s extremely affectionate and never turns down the opportunity to cuddle up with someone. Even during medical procedures, he would be purring! This confident, friendly, and playful boy had no problem finding his forever home. He was adopted by a vet tech who had previously adopted one of his brothers. She had gone back to the shelter to see how Tom was doing and instantly fell in love! She is fully aware of his condition and is able to monitor him closely. Now he’s enjoying life with his brother and getting all the cuddles and cat naps in his forever home!